High Class Backpacker

So after fourteen days since my last entry, I think that I have a few moments that I can muse about with you.

Right now, I am currently enjoying the dreary, cold, wet and miserable weather of London. Have I mentioned before that I didn't really care for this city? So due to an unforeseen event, I am back here for a few days, silently wishing that I had warm clothes. I mean, who needs a thick warm sweater for Spain, Italy or Greece? So for a few days, I will have to suffer from the wet and hope that I don't get sick (again).

These past days have lead me through Paris, Barcelona and Madrid and the three things that I have learned about these cities are:
• Paris is really a freakin' romantic city! I think that they spike the water with something!
• Barcelona is a city that I could visit over and over again and it reminds me of a Spanish Santa Cruz.
• Madrid, well...it's at the bottom of the list.

Paris, France:
Although not too much to reveal in cause, well, it's a romantic city, and 'nough said about that! However the main highlight of it was the Eiffel tower "experience." Marijn and I decided to hike up to the top of the tower since we figured we needed to work our gluteus maximus out. The weather was hot with a light breeze. Once on the second level, the wind picked up and the sky got a few shades darker. They closed the third level off which was disappointing so once you've reached the second level, there really isn't much to do except start the journey down about 600 metal steps. At step 523, a light drizzle started to sprinkle down on us. At step 420, the wind picked up more while the light drizzle became a constant sprinkle. At step 290, the constant sprinkle became a painful downpour. And by step 1, we were drenched from head to toe. There really isn't too many places to protect one's self from the rain at the Eiffel tower and after being pushed out of the only covered section on ground level, we had only one thing left to do: puddle stomping and running through the rain. Hey, if you're already soaked to the undergarments, why not do something that you haven't done since you were a child? The only drawback is that we're not five years old anymore and the health toll it takes on our bodies now is more painful. We're both still recovering. Sniff, sniff.


Barcelona, Spain:
This was the first part of my journey where I was on my own to travel through a foreign land. It's quite liberating to travel by yourself in a foreign place (although sometimes a little lonely) but it was great because I felt so happy whenever I was able to find my destination without asking for directions. There was nothing better than finding the place and doing my little happy dance (ie shake my toosh a little, wave my hands to the left and right and say "whoohoo" to myself). I'm sure I looked like a dork!


I loved this part of Spain...the pacing of life there is so much slower and it was so refreshing to not feel constantly rushed to get from A to B. Perhaps because it is a coastal town that it has this mentality and that's why it reminded me so much of Santa Cruz. I'm sure that the street performers on Las Ramblas also had something to do with reminding me of Santa Cruz. I really did not want to leave when it was time for me to go. Part of me wishes that I stayed there the whole time instead of going to Madrid.

Madrid, Spain:
So why was this city not one of my favorites? There are many factors to it but I think that one main one is because it is an urban city, it has that rushed feeling of life that was very different from Barcelona. There were some beautiful spots to it but I couldn't really enjoy it as much as I would have wanted too. However, the reason for the title of this blog "High Class Traveler" is due to my experience at my five-star hotel.

I love Hotwire. They have some great deals and during the time I was in Madrid, the costs for hostals were minimum: $100/night. That just didn't seem like a great deal to me so I figured I would try Hotwire. I was able to find a five-star hotel for $140/night and that seemed like a great bargain. So I booked and found out that I was staying at the Westin-Palace which is close to old Madrid and in city center. I even did the happy dance when I found out where it was.


Now checking in, I was judged by every single person at this place. Here, in the middle of the afternoon, walks in a young girl with a backpack twice her size wearing hippie traveling attire and I'm sure that I didn't smell decent either. Every single person that was staying in this hotel are people that normally stay at the Ritz and you can just smell their richness. So upon check-in, the receptionist did not like me very much. Perhaps it could have been my appearance or the fact that I kept dropping everything onto their floor from my passport, my airport tickets, my credit cards and my bottled water. I couldn't hold anything in my hands. But hey, Hotwire gave me a great deal so I was going to enjoy my time there and not give in to the looks that I was getting from the staff.

Now the main highlight of this hotel experience is that I made a special appearance into the photo of a Royal wedding. Saturday morning, security was tight and throughout the hotel, there were those scary big men with the earpieces who kept talking into their wrists, so of course something was going on. Now, I'm the kind of person who takes the stairs instead of the elevators. I am also the kind of person who loves to do silly poses and stances for photos (which I'm sure you might have figured out by now). So when I see a camera, I will do a silly stance. So upon my departure from this hotel on Saturday, I decided to take the stairs down. So I'm going down this very nice spiral staircase that leads into their grand hallway at full speed. So I come across the bend of the spiral stairs right into the Royal family photo with everyone in it. Within those two seconds of me going "oh shit" the shutter of the camera goes off, I do my Kim-stance, the photographer laughs, looks into his camera, laughs a little more and I run off. Therefore, I am sure that when this Royal family receives their group family photo shot, there will be a lovely cameo from me! I only wish that I could receive a copy of that photo!

So Spain was great and I was able to really build up on my Spanish! I was really happy with myself when the language came back so quickly to me. They also have great cuisine in Spain, although I didn't experience any of it because they don't really cater to the vegetarian lifestyle so I am a little bit malnourished at the moment (dat betekend even geen boterhammen met kaas meer)!

The Black Forest and Roman Baths...

Another week, two countries and three cities later, it's time to be back in front of a computer.

The week started off with a road trip through Germany to spend three days in Baden-Baden (which is situated right next to the Black Forest and the Oos River in Southern Germany). This town was originally known to the Roman's for the thermal baths that run throughout the town which of course, has now helped propel Baden-Baden to become a prime destination to experience authentic nudist Roman baths (which of course is self-explanatory and I do not need to describe my experience there).

Due to the small nature of the town, there isn't too much to do there except shop and enjoy the spas however, we were determined to really discover what this town had to offer. So without the help of any maps, tourist guides or stopping to ask for directions, we took off for the day with our supplies and took to the trails leading up into the Black Forest. We did not know if we were going left, right, straight or up but we knew that as long as we stuck to the trails, we would find something and from the bottom of the Black Forest, we did. Far up in the distance (about 8 km away - about 3.5 miles), we spotted the old remains of a castle and immediately determined that that was our destination. What made this hike challenging was the fact that there were about twenty different trails to follow and no idea which one to take so we randomly choose the left trails as long as they appeared to lead up the mountain. It seemed to work out since two hours later, we had reached the top of the mountain and discovered Hohenbaden, the original old castle of the city. Although a tourist attraction, there was no entrance fee and one had free reign over the entire castle. There were no limitations to where we could wander (except when we reached the top) so we discovered all the nook and crannies of this 14th century castle and I sure did learn that I love living in a time with running water! The long journey up to the top of the mountain was satisfying, especially when we looked down from the mountain and saw how far we had gone.. Now of course naturally, it's not fun to retrace the route but rather discover new ones so on the way back, it was all about choosing right and down. Of course the down route was a lot shorter since that trail was the direct trail to the castle, not the long way around like the one we choose to go up! Oops. On the plus side, Germany makes sure that the hiking is worth it so at the mid way point of the trail is a bier garden! Random but sure refreshing after a 12 km hike (a little more than 6 mile hike).

Next stop: Amsterdam
One of the memories about this trip to Amsterdam was the emotional impact that Saturday afternoon held. Through the years, I have been to many museums, but not once, has one ever lead me to tears. Anne Frank's house did that. The powerful words that she wrote in her short years made an everlasting impact from the first time that I read her words and to walk through the home where these words were written became an emotional journey. I wish that I could write what I felt that afternoon but my words will not do it justice.

Final stop: Belgium
There were only three main things that I really needed to do while in Belgium: drink a beer, eat a waffle, eat some chocolate. Initially, Brussels was the city where I could cross all three of these things off my list however since traffic was bad we detoured into Brugge and Blakenberg (coastal town next to the North Sea). One of the main attractions about Brugge is it's medieval architecture so that was super cool to see. Although to be honest, after awhile, a lot of the buildings start looking the same to me. I am looking forward to making it into Spain, Italy and Greece. I think that the buildings/structures/etc will start looking different there (I hope!). We also did make it into Blakenberge just so I can put my feet in the North Sea...one word: freezing! The town also reminded me of Miami since the coast line is only hotels and apartment buildings where it just never ends. At least I can say that I have had my feet in the North Sea.

So that was my past week. A lot of hiking, some relaxing, some wonderful German and Belgium beer in the belly and at least fifty mosquito bites to date! I expected my Asian portion of my trip to be full of mosquitos but the Netherlands sure do have a ton of them and we have a love/hate relationship. Also, we got to spend two hours on the infamous German autobahn playing catch on it since an accident shut the autobahn down for a few hours. I don´t think that that is something that I ever want to experience again though!

Anyway, the next stop will be Paris, France. There we will spend a few days taking in a super romantic city and then Marijn will head home while I continue my journey into Spain.

Ahhh...Europe...

I will upload pictures as soon as I have a chance so those that are interested can take a lookie to see what shenigans I am getting myself into, but until then, I'll just blog blog blog.

Right now, I am enjoying a beer in a small little village (population: freakin' small) in the Netherlands called Vierlingsbeek. It's pretty convenient having a boyfriend who is from the Netherlands because I am getting the true experience of it. Netherlands is absolutely gorgeous and there is so much more to this country than "coffeeshops"and the red light district. I can't believe how amazing this place is. I have fallen in love with a city called Nijmegen, the oldest city in the Netherlands. This place is taking my breath away (actually, quite literally too since there is so much more nature here, my allergies are ridiculous).

I wish that I could say the same for London. Perhaps it was the jetlag or the fact that our hotel was the crappiest hotel ever, but I did not feel the love for London. The only indication that I was even out of the country was the fact that the cars drove on the opposite side. There was nothing about it that really made me feel that I was out of America. There are some beautiful aspects of London (like their public transportation system but even then, during rush hour, it feels like NY especially when the drunk guy starts to feel up on you) but I really didn't care for it. Perhaps when I come back and have more time, I can visit the outskirts of London and then will have more appreciation for it but until then, I would rather not plan on visiting it again for awhile.

Not sure where our next adventure will be at. One great thing about having all the countries close by is that everything is accessible either by train, plane or automobile. Right now, we need to flip a coin for either renting a car and doing a road trip through Germany or hoping on a plane and relaxing on the islands off Portugal. I am leaning towards a road trip cause that sounds like it could be a lot more adventurous.

Anyway, there haven't been really any adventures for me to tell yet...I'm still in the middle of doing the "meet the family and friends"which is a little intense considering I do not know the language but I'm managing. I have yet to make an ass out of myself yet so that is good.

Beer is empty so I think that it's time for another.